House Education Committee advances ESA bill with homeschool firewall, new penalties and $1,000 cap

The House Education Committee on Tuesday advanced Senate Bill 2400 after adopting a pair of amendments that, supporters said, separate homeschoolers who choose to participate in an education savings account (ESA) program from those who do not, add criminal penalties for misuse of account funds and raise the base ESA amount to $1,000.

The move came after Representative Morton presented an amendment to create what she called a “firewall” between homeschoolers who accept ESA payments and homeschoolers who remain subject to the state's home-education chapter. "So homeschoolers that choose to take the money are gonna be under that under the ESA governance, the DPI," Representative Morton said when she moved the change, which committee members approved.

The amendment, adopted by roll call, amends references to compulsory attendance and specifies that an eligible student approved for an ESA by the superintendent of public instruction is treated as an exception to compulsory school attendance under the cited attendance section, and that a student who participates in a homeschool program under chapter 15.123 and also participates in the ESA will fall under the ESA provisions rather than the general homeschool chapter.

A second amendment presented by Representative Schreiberbeck added a penalty structure for intentional misuse of ESA funds and raised the per-student award cited in earlier drafts. Schreiberbeck…